16 Israel Incubators to Watch in 2025
Health Tech
Over the years, Israel’s incubator ecosystem has become a vibrant cornerstone of the startup landscape. Supporting the next generation of innovators, these incubators not only nurture local talent but also attract significant global interest and investment. They contribute to Israel’s global reputation as a tech innovation powerhouse. With the government’s active involvement, these incubators de-risk early-stage ventures, making them highly attractive to private partners and investors alike.
In 2025 and beyond, incubators are expected to expand their impact, creating new opportunities for startups to innovate, thrive, and scale globally.
What is an Incubator?
In Israel, the term “incubator” differs slightly from its global counterpart. Here, technological incubators operate as public-private partnerships, typically under the Israeli Innovation Authority’s Incubators Incentive Program. They focus on transforming innovative ideas into viable businesses by providing early-stage startups with funding, mentorship, office space, and administrative support. Incubators hold licenses issued for eight-year periods and are strategically located across the country, especially in peripheral regions, to promote economic growth nationwide.
Unlike accelerators, which concentrate on rapid scaling of already established startups, Israeli incubators emphasize the foundational stages of innovation. They de-risk ventures for investors by offering funding support and access to sector-specific expertise, creating a fertile environment for success.
Incubating Impatient Innovation
Many incubators in Israel align with the nation’s strengths across specific sectors. For instance, the government supports defense and cybersecurity incubators to leverage the technical expertise of military veterans transitioning into the private sector. However, the ecosystem has matured beyond these roots. Emerging sectors like deep tech, climate tech, health tech, and agrifood tech are thriving under incubation programs.
Academia also plays a significant role. Universities like the Technion and the Hebrew University host incubators that transform cutting-edge research into commercial solutions. These hubs foster collaboration between academia, government, and private investors, amplifying the global competitiveness of Israeli innovation.
At the core of this system is Israel’s characteristic drive to challenge the status quo. Entrepreneurs across fields—from farming to finance, media to medicine—demonstrate an impatience with inefficiency and a hunger for improvement. This urgency underpins the nation’s characteristic Impatient Innovation, enabling transformative ventures to grow from incubation to IPO.
2025 Israel Incubator Watch List
All of the incubators, and innovation hubs, mentioned are featured on Finder, Startup Nation Central’s comprehensive business engagement platform.
For the sake of inclusiveness, the list extends beyond incubators in the traditional sense to include innovation hubs and centers that play a critical role in supporting Israel’s tech ecosystem. These entities, while not always categorized as incubators in the narrowest definition, contribute significantly to fostering entrepreneurship, scaling solutions, and driving transformative innovation across various sectors:
Food Tech
As a seed investor and incubator for food technologies, the Kitchen Hub is backed by the Strauss Group. It supports the development of alternative proteins and food safety innovations, aiming to transform the future of food through technical expertise and strategic investment.
Fresh Start is a global food tech incubator dedicated to impacting future food innovations, focusing on protein alternatives and waste reduction. By providing technological support, it forms a core part of Israel’s agrifood tech growth, backed by Tnuva and Tempo.
Health Tech
Specializing in digital health, eHealth Ventures offers a nurturing ground for startups that introduce diagnostic and therapeutic innovations. This incubator is driven by collaborations with experienced health professionals and investors, including Maccabi Health.
4. AION Labs
AION Labs is an alliance of AstraZeneca, Merck, Pfizer, Teva, the Israel Biotech Fund, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) that have come together with one clear mission: to create and adopt new AI technologies that will transform the process of drug discovery and development in order to contribute to the health and well-being of all people worldwide.
Climate Tech
NetZero has a venture-building approach which includes both investing in pre-prototype startups led by strong entrepreneurs, as well as identifying promising hard science technologies from leading academic labs and creating robust companies around them. NetZero is backed by world-class stakeholders including TotalEnergies, Eren Group, Delek US Holdings, OSEG, Innovative Power IP, Blue Minds, and BGV, and operates as an incubator in partnership with the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA).
Agtech
As a part of a Singapore investment entity, Trendlines supports agrifood and health tech innovations in Israel, leveraging expertise to help startups succeed from seed to market.
Backed by Israel’s Innovation Authority, InNegev supports advancements in agtech and cleantech. It provides a platform for impactful startups to emerge within the Negev region, supported by industrial and academic partnerships.
Defense Tech & Cyber Incubators
The Israel Defense Forces have garnered an international reputation for producing some of the top cyber and defense technologists in the world – and for good reason. As the Wall Street Journal reported at the end of last year, the Israeli army’s intelligence unit (8200) has itself become an incubator for tech startups.
The WSJ noted “at least nine publicly traded companies whose founders had served in 8200, and those are worth anywhere from 190 billion to 200 billion depending on the day. And then there are dozens of private companies, many of them also worth a billion dollars each.” With this track record of excellence, it should come as no surprise that numerous incubators are looking to help lend a hand to intelligence veterans with disruptive ideas.
With a focus on deep technology, Incubit, backed by Elbit Systems, invests in startups developing advanced tech ranging from aviation to ICT, providing extensive corporate support along their journeys.
SOSA Ventures is the latest addition to SOSA’s global endeavors. While SOSA supports startups across industries, their HLS Open Innovation program is led by former directors of the Israeli Prime Minister’s office & the IDF, and specifically supports emerging defense tech.
Part of the SouthUp hub in the Gaza envelope, the Defense Hub offers startups access to a rich ecosystem that includes sites for experiments (on land, in the air, and at sea). The hub keeps close and direct connection with DDR&D (the R&D department of the Ministry of Defense) and operates acceleration programs in the fields of HLS security and dual solutions.
Created as a collaboration between the Israel Ministry of Defense, DDR&D, and the IDF air and ground arms, Innofense is designed to strengthen the links between the civilian and defense markets via the collaborative development of technologies, thus advancing and improving their integration in both markets. Innofense is operated by iHLS and SOSA.
Broad Focus Incubators
Powered by Mastercard and supported locally by the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA), the Israel National Cyber Directorate (INCD), and the Israel Ministry of Finance (IMOF) to create a unique environment to assist early-stage fintech startups and scale their solutions in global markets.
As a media and marketing-focused incubator, Nielsen Innovate supports research-driven tech companies. It provides an environment for startups to tap into Nielsen’s vast media resources.
Israel’s top technological entrepreneurship program led by the Bronica Entrepreneurship Center at the Technion, this incubator provides entrepreneurs with access to substantial mentorship and financial support.
Government-backed, this program does not restrict to any one field, encouraging a wide array of technological innovations.
General incubator supporting a variety of tech innovations, with solutions emerging from extensive academic research, backed by OurCrowd, Motorola, Yissum Research Development (the Hebrew University’s knowledge transfer company), and the Israel Innovation Authority.
Each of these incubators plays a crucial role in their respective sectors by harnessing Israel’s ingenuity and supporting startups with the resources they need to succeed. By fostering innovations across these fields, these incubators contribute significantly to Israel’s reputation as a leader in tech innovations.
Israel Incubator Success Stories
In the world of Israeli tech, successful startups are not just impressive feats; they’re testimonials of how incubators shape the future. By providing the right mix of mentorship, resources, and networking, these incubators have helped nurture young companies into impactful industry leaders.
These incubators have been instrumental in transforming promising startups into industry leaders across various sectors. Here are a few examples of disruptive startups that received support from one or more of the above incubators:
Food Tech
Impact: Pioneered technology to cultivate meat from animal cells, offering a sustainable and ethical alternative to traditional meat production.
Impact: Developed an alternative milk production technology that uses fermentation to create dairy-free milk with the same taste and nutritional value as cow’s milk.
Health Tech
Impact: Created an AI-powered medical imaging analysis platform that helps doctors diagnose diseases faster and more accurately.
Agtech
Impact: Developed an AI-driven platform that helps farmers optimize crop yields and reduce water usage.
Defense Tech
Impact: Offers a software solution for converting off-the-shelf drones into super drones capable of fully autonomous flight, object detection and inspection, and multiple concurrent missions.
These case studies highlight how Israel’s innovative spirit fosters startups that solve key global challenges and improve lives. By providing the ideal environment for innovation to flourish, Israeli incubators are instrumental in these startups’ journeys from concept to market leadership.
Future Trends and Opportunities
As we look towards 2025, the incubator ecosystem in Israel continues to evolve with emerging technology trends and the increasing complexity of global challenges. Here are some anticipated trends and opportunities:
- Increased Focus on Sustainability: Expect a surge in incubators fostering green tech as startups tackle environmental issues with sustainable innovations.
- Integration of AI Across All Sectors: AI will be increasingly incorporated across incubators’ focus areas, from agtech to health tech, offering smarter solutions to age-old problems.
- Cross-industry Collaborations: There will be a rise in partnerships between different sectors as incubators encourage startups to create solutions that intersect various technologies.
- Globalization of Innovation: Incubators will further solidify Israel’s reputation as a global tech leader by attracting international startups and expanding their solutions to global markets.
Scale-Up Nation Starts with Incubation
Israeli incubators play a pivotal role in the evolution of the startup ecosystem, serving as the launchpad for companies that later transition into scale-ups. While incubators are traditionally associated with nurturing early-stage innovation—helping startups build viable products, secure initial funding, and establish foundational business models—they also provide the groundwork for long-term scalability.
The support provided by incubators, including access to funding, mentorship, and strategic resources, equips startups with the tools needed to successfully navigate the challenges of growth. By fostering connections to investors, corporate partners, and international markets, incubators align closely with the ambitions of scale-ups, helping companies envision and prepare for their next phase of development.
In the broader context of Israel’s evolution into a “Scale-Up Nation,” incubators contribute significantly to creating a robust pipeline of innovation. They enable startups to establish the infrastructure and networks necessary for scaling, ensuring that these companies are well-positioned to transition from local innovators to global industry leaders. By promoting a culture of strategic thinking and fostering access to world-class talent, incubators help drive the maturity of the ecosystem as companies expand their market reach, optimize business operations, and achieve sustained impact.
Through this ecosystem-wide collaboration, incubators not only serve as catalysts for early-stage success but also as foundational pillars supporting Israel’s reputation as a hub for transformative, scalable innovation.